The Manifest Presence of God - Part 10
Walter Beuttler

Those who “set apart” quality time to seek the Lord and in anticipation, “wait” in His presence, will be given “revelations” and “openings” in the Word, and may be blessed with “movings” and “manifestations” of the Holy Spirit.

“The secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.”  Psalm 25:14

This “fear” is a worshipful reverence that moves the heart of the Lord to make known the “treasures of darkness.”  These are spiritual nuggets and principles, which are buried beneath the “letter of the Word” and can be known only by “revelation.”  To be valid, there must be a Scriptural basis for these experiences.  We should not move into areas which go beyond the text and context of the Word of God.

“He that has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.”  John 14:21

For the Lord to “manifest” Himself to us means that He will make His presence “known” to us, through one or more of our physical senses.  The following is a Scriptural example of this.

“For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host; and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.”  II Kings 7:6

There were no horses or chariots, but the Syrians heard sounds as if they were there.  Through this seeming “sound,” the Lord gave the Syrians the message He intended them to have.

I have often heard a sound that awakened me, as if the Lord had audibly knocked on a door that was close to my ear.  The Lord was “causing” me to “hear” the sound of a knocking, which conveyed the message that it was time to get up and wait on Him.

The fact that this knocking can be spiritual, rather than literal, is confirmed in the Song of Solomon.

“I sleep, but my heart wakes: it is the voice of my Beloved that knocks, saying, Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled.”  Song of Solomon 5:2a

In Acts 2:2, another reference is made to sound.

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”

Here, the presence of the Holy Spirit was made known to those who were gathered in the Upper Room, through the “sound” of a rushing mighty wind.  This indicated the initial coming of the Holy Spirit to abide within the believer, which had been promised by Jesus, and for which they were waiting.

This was the Lord, “manifesting” His presence through the medium of “sound.”  They heard with their physical ears the Holy Spirit come into their midst.  This experience introduced them to the “personal presence” of the Holy Spirit.

Hattie Hammond told me that she heard, with her natural faculty of hearing, an entire (spiritual) orchestra playing during a visitation.  Thus, on occasion, God may manifest His presence to us through a particular sound, which is perceivable to our human faculty of hearing, in order to convey a message to us.

This experience of our hearing an “indication” of the presence, or of the purpose of the Lord, should be a part of our spiritual experience.  It will happen, or take place when, within the judgment of God, the occasion requires such.

Another way in which the Lord may manifest His presence to us, is through the faculty of “smell.”

One time, during a move of the Spirit, a fragrance wafted through the Chapel.  It was recognized as the “fragrance of the presence” of the Lord.  The wife of the music director attended this service while he stayed home with the children.  When she returned home, he asked her about the perfume she was wearing.  He was smelling the fragrance of the Lord from the meeting, which still clung to her clothing.

We should be responsive to, but never strain after manifestations, as they are altogether a matter of “Divine discretion.”  The Lord should never be told “how” He should meet us; for the prerogative of how, belongs to Him.  Rather, we should “wait” in His presence, “open our spirits” before Him, and “respond” to whatever way He may move upon us in order to make His presence known.

I believe the Lord has given these manifestations to me that I might, as I minister throughout the world, let others know that these personal visitations from the Lord may occur, and then help them with their response to them.

I have been told by many that by sharing these experiences, I have helped them to understand various movings of the Holy Spirit, which they had experienced.  Once, after ministering from Revelation, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” a lady said, “I have been awakened many times by a sound of knocking, and once I heard my name being spoken.  I thought there was something wrong with me.  Now I understand that this was the Lord, and that I am to respond.”

“And there appeared to them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.”  Acts 2:3

The Word tells us that these manifestations “appeared.”  Those present actually saw something that looked like flames of fire.  Here, the Lord was manifesting His presence through the medium of “sight.”

“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian ... and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

“And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.”  Exodus 3:1-4

This bush only looked as if it were burning, as it was not consumed.  This manifestation of the presence of the Lord was used to arrest the attention of Moses.  The Lord was patiently waiting for him to notice and respond.  When he did, the Lord spoke to Him.

The Lord may use a special means to attract our attention, and will speak to us only after we respond.  This flame, which seemingly burned, was a Divine presence that is called, “the Angel of the Lord.”  The practical lesson here is the fact that there is such a thing as a manifestation of the Lord, which is perceivable to our human faculty of sight.

Israel had seen the presence of the Lord for forty years.  By day they saw the Shekinah Glory of the Lord as a cloud, and by night, as the appearance of a fire.  They were to follow this manifestation of the presence of the Lord, by moving when it moved, and staying when it stayed.

They were given these manifestations of the Divine presence that they might learn the principles of guidance, as they were led through the wilderness.

“Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”  Luke 3:21-22

Here, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in a bodily shape, like a dove.  The Holy Spirit is a person with all the faculties of personality.  He does not have a body, but He descended in a form that was like unto a body.  He can take other forms to reveal His presence, as in the upper room; He used cloven tongues of fire to make Himself known.  Thus, Spirit has form.

The Lord uses these varied manifestations as a means to make Himself known to us.  Experiences such as these should be the norm for us, and not the exception.

It is important for us to understand that we are to look past whatever means the Lord may use to make His presence known to us, and respond to Him, as the manifestation of His presence indicates.